Things that are Lost
by Maggs0607
Summary: Percy is lost in the aftermath of war as he sits at the edge of the lake throwing away the mementos of a past he wishes he had never chosen. As he watches them sink into the depths, he feels like he might sink right along with them. Twinkling like the stars above, an old friend reminds him that even things that are lost can be found again. ONESHOT


This was a prompt from the lovely jasperandgemma who wanted a little Drabble about Percy. Well, this kind of developed a life of its own, and then Luna danced her way in, and refused to leave. The result is what you see here.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own HP.**

Things that are Lost or "Thank Merlin for Nargles"

Percy x Luna.

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Percy grunted as he swung his arm as hard as he could, listening for the soft "thunk" in the water as an award he won for 'service to the ministry' sank into the depths of the pond below. He scowled as he stumbled back to the little box of trinkets sitting beside him at the lake's edge.

"Useless junk," he muttered to himself as he drunkenly grabbed the next item. His ministry badge was worn from nearly four years of service, but the tiny replica of himself still puffed his chest out arrogantly. 'Stupid tosser,' he thought unkindly. He turned it over, looking at his own precise handwriting on the back. Dates of every promotion and departmental change were listed in tiny sequence - what he once thought would be a roadmap to the office of Minister of Magic. Now, it was just a reminder of everything he walked away from while he was chasing status and respect in the Wizarding world. How arrogant he had been.

He huffed again as it to sunk into the abyss, rippling out the water on its way down to the murky depths below. Ministry papers and commendations, Daily Prophet clippings and other items he had cleared out of his desk earlier that day soon joined it, swallowed up by the dark waters of the lake.

The box was finally clear, except for two items lingering at the bottom. His shiny Head Boy Badge sat there, gleaming still with never-tarnish charms. He sat it aside as he pulled out the last item, a silly metal button that mimicked his original badge, except this one was charmed to spell out "Big Head Boy" in bright sparkly silver letters. He gripped the badge tightly, watching as it morphed slowly—the charms beginning to fade after a few years—and couldn't hold back the tears that threatened to escape as he thought about Fred and the wicked smile he'd given as he'd tossed the badge at Percy years before.

He'd been so angry at the time, sick of them for making fun of him for being straight-laced, for not liking Quidditch and jokes, for wanting to go into the Ministry instead of causing mayhem. They'd mocked him for wanting to be better than their father, for wanting to be more than just another Weasley in a sea of red hair and unbending morals. Fred in particular, had always goaded him, challenged him.

He'd hated it for years until he watched his brother take the piss out of Ginny in the same manner, teasing her and pushing her. She'd been too afraid to try some some stupid Quidditch maneuver, until he'd riled her up so hard, she grabbed a broom, elbowed Fred deliberately in his stomach and then executed the feint brilliantly on the first try. Percy didn't realize it then, but as he looked back on the memory, he recalled that the smirk Fred shot at Ginny that day was the same one he'd sent in Percy's direction when he tossed him the blasted badge.

His chest tightened at the memory, and he chuckled mirthlessly as he realized that the twins had been the only ones in the family to actually congratulate him on his first day at work. Sure, they had sent him a dreadfully embarrassing singing telegram with wet-start fireworks, but now he took the gesture for what it was —real sentiment in the guise of pranks and mockery—instead of the insult he perceived it at the time.

He supposed that's why they had been the angriest with him when he sided with the Ministry instead of his own family.

Percy sighed around the end of a bottle of elf-made wine, polishing it off in one go as he sank to the ground, badge in hand as he landed on the soft earth. Normally, he would never be caught doing something as unrefined as drinking straight from a bottle; but these days his life was so far removed from normal that it might as well be a parallel universe.

Four years in the Ministry of Magic, and today was the day he had tendered his resignation. 'Guess it was time to put that dream of being Minister of Magic out to pasture,' he thought bitterly.

It was a new world in the aftermath of the war, and a fellow who supported Barty Crouch, Fudge and then Umbridge was not one who would be rewarded in the new regime. He couldn't say he really blamed them after all. Even if Kingsley hadn't given him the boot yet in deference to his father and his family's status as war heroes, he knew it was a matter of time. He had stayed after all, following from minister to minister, towing the Ministry line, refusing to meet the eyes of his family in the halls, refusing to go back to them, to make peace even after he realized he was in the wrong.

Hell, he'd been in the minister's office when Dolohov and McNair had stormed in and executed Scrimgeour, installing Thicknese in his place. Percy had stifled his shock and outrage, picked up his papers and asked the new minister if there was anything else he needed before bolting as fast as his neatly pressed trousers would allow.

He was not in attendance at Bill's wedding at the time, and the Ministry was the only home he had left.

He had managed to find Kingsley, tell him the Ministry was in the hands of Death Eaters, begged the other man to keep his family safe, to warn them of the coming danger. He'd disappeared back to his office after that with one last pleading look to the burly Auror, his only act of bravery hidden behind his continued presence in Voldemort's Ministry. He'd begun feeding Kingsley what little information he could that day, but it would never be enough to erase his guilt of not going back to his family then and there.

When the summons to Hogwarts came months later in the form of a lynx Patronus, Percy knew he finally had to make the right choice; the Weasley choice.

The tears threatened to fall now in earnest as his wiped his sleeve across his face, paying no mind to the mussed fabric as he remembered the Battle of Hogwarts in vivid detail. Of course it was the twins that came to mind again, as they had been the first to approach him during the tearful reunion.

He could clearly remember Fred screaming at him for being a " Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron" before clutching him in a hug so tight he thought his lungs would burst. He also remembered just precious hours later, clutching Fred's cold hand and staring at his lifeless body. It had been too short, the time back with his brother too fleeting, and he had been beating himself up over it continuously in the weeks after the battle. He'd been so ashamed that the only smiles his mother could muster was when she gripped him tightly, thanking Merlin he'd returned, while simultaneously wiping away the tears for her son that never would.

Shaking angrily from his thoughts, he gripped the shiny metal badge, not even wincing as it curled into his palms, making shallow cuts in the skin below. He screamed in fury as he tossed it into the water. Perfection and a stupid badge was too high a price to pay for the loss of his family. In his slightly inebriated state, he grabbed the blinking silver trinket and lofted it above his head. He didn't deserve his family —didn't deserve to be welcomed back with no limits or hesitations— and the mocking badge of brotherly love was just too much to take.

As he made a motion to toss it away, an ethereal voice brought him out of his fog and anger.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, the dabberblimps that live around this pond are quite allergic to metal you know."

He could never mistake that tone of voice for anyone else but Luna Lovegood, and in his shock at being interrupted, he dropped the BigHead Boy badge softly on the bank beside him, twisting to come face to face with unflinching grey eyes that seemed to stare right into his very soul.

"They are quite mischievous, and would certainly find that trinket just too hard to resist. You don't want them swelling up to the size of a flobberworm, now do you?"

The blonde seemed to skip closer as she finally settled down beside him in the grass, her eyes now twinkling in the rapidly darkening dusk. It seemed she wasn't really waiting for an answer and the silence settled him as she sat companionably next to him, twisting blades of grass and wild daisies around in her fingers.

Percy wondered just how long she had been there, on the edge of the pond that marked the boundaries between the Rookery and the Burrow, watching him slowly dissolve into the mess he currently was. He normally hated to have anyone see him so disheveled looking, but the blonde beside him had known him since they were both just tykes, and so his normal pretentious airs were no use around her. 'She'd likely see right through them anyway,' he thought as he sighed a long cleansing breath and just sat in the silence with her.

She didn't seem to be in any hurry for conversation as she smiled at the grass and stroked the tiny flowers, so Percy just let himself relax in the presence of one of the few people in the universe he felt probably wouldn't judge him for his actions over the last few years. He uncorked another bottle of elf-wine and took a long gulp before silently handing it to the blonde witch at his side. She smiled as she took the bottle, letting the tips of her fingers brush his ever so lightly in a gesture that was far more comforting than most things in his life lately, and said nothing as she took a few small sips and handed it back. They passed the bottle back and forth between themselves for quite awhile, until the bright moon glistened overhead.

Percy used the cover of darkness to subtly peer over at the woman at his side. He smiled as he appreciated the bright blonde halo of hair on her head, and the way she had grown from this slight pixie with haunting grey eyes, to the lithe beauty settled next to him.

From the time she was a toddler, the odd blonde had always gravitated to Percy's side in the chaos that was the Burrow— following him along the banks of this very pond twittering at him for answers—so very in awe of all the knowledge that he seemed to have. His younger self always basked in that, this small little girl who prized him above the others. Not fearless Charlie, or dashing Bill, or even the funny Fred and George. No, on play dates with Ginny, Luna had always drifted to his side, her love of knowledge making him "the very best of the older boys" as she always used to exclaim. He pretended to hate the attention in his teens, but secretly loved that the little sprite saw value in the things that made him different from his brothers. He wondered if she would see any value in him now, after the coward he had been.

As if she could sense his thoughts, she turned to him, breaking the silence for the first time. "Do you remember that time in my first year when you found me wandering the corridors past curfew?"

Percy started as he searched for the memory. He had been in his sixth year, she in her first month. She had been missing from her common room and he had found her—nestled in a window ledge on the 7th floor of the castle—staring out at the stars above. He remembered that just as he was about to scold her, she turned to him with tears in her eyes and any thoughts of retribution had quickly left his mind.

"You were nestled in a little nook, high in the castle, crying because you were homesick," he replied gently, leaning towards her as he spoke. "The prefects had been searching for you for almost an hour, and I was the one to find you. I was supposed to bring you back immediately."

She hummed in agreement before he heard her continue, "Yes, but instead you settled next to me, and put your arms around me while I cried it all out and then told me something I never forgot. You knew that the stars reminded me of my mum, and you told me that it didn't matter how short of a time you had with someone, that love was not measured in seconds, but in millennia and that the stars would always remember. That they would help if I ever started to forget." She scooted closer to him in that moment, laying her hand upon his in the grass, the feel of the silly badge still beneath their fingers.

Percy couldn't help the small chuckle as he recalled the conversation from so long ago, "and your response was that crumpled-horn snorkacks liked the stars as much as humans did," he paused before continuing, "I knew you would be okay if you started talking about your creatures."

She smiled warmly at him before replying, her voice soft and focused, "You were one of the few that never told me they didn't exist."

"There isn't enough evidence to know for sure, and for wizards to believe that they have managed to catalog every creature, and sub-race of creature that exists is both haughty and impractical. We will always be discovering new things and to discount the impact of magizoologists on our culture is incredibly naive."

She giggled at the pretentious sound of his voice as he huffed about her being teased for believing in the fantastical.

"There's the Percy I remember. It's been so long since he's been around, the wackspurts addled your brain in the ministry."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that one anymore, seeing as I no longer work in the Ministry of Magic." Percy glanced out at the still water before him. She was they first person he told about his resignation, and saying it out loud made the action harder to digest. For as much grief as he got for it, Percy had loved being employed in the hub of the wizarding world.

He watched Luna's eyes widen in concern, all traces of her trademark vacant stare leaving her face as she said to him, "Don't run from something that you were truly meant to do just because of a few mistakes. You are going to be Minister one day, you can't do that if you don't actually work in the ministry."

Her grey eyes bore into him, and he had the feeling that the blonde beauty before him was seeing something far beyond what he saw in his own soul.

He scoffed at her, that innocent naivety was something he always found endearing, and she was downright insightful when she wanted to be, but her absolute conviction that he would be be Minister was something he couldn't begin to comprehend.

"You mean I could have been minister Luna, doesn't seem like something that's likely to happen now. I don't deserve anything like that. He paused, muttering into the night in a quieter tone, "I quit before they had a chance to throw me out on my arse."

"The things we need the most are often quite much more that we deserve, that's how we learn to be grateful."

Percy scoffed at her response, yanking a few blades of grass from the ground. " Yeah, well I'm having a hard time seeing how to be grateful for anything these days. I watched Fred die before my very eyes and there was nothing I could do to stop it." His voice was pained as he added, "I'd only just gotten him back Luna, and then he was gone. Forgive me if nothing else really seems to matter."

"Things have to matter Percy, you can't just stop caring. The people we love never truly leave."

"But it was my fault, I was right there. You wouldn't understand—"

"You listen to me Percy Weasley," Luna's stern voice cut him off as she scrambled onto his lap, straddling him as she gripped his face tightly with her small hands, resolute that he would pay attention. "I was nine when I watched my mother die in front of me. I know what that does to a person, I understand perfectly. It was NOT your fault."

Looking into her eyes, gaze unflinching as she stared straight at him, her words were finally what caused him to break. He sobbed as he clutched at her, tears leaking unbidden down his face as he lowered his head to her shoulders and weeped for everything he had lost, for everything he stupidly had thrown away. He hadn't allowed himself to break down since Fred died, hadn't felt he was worthy of the grief that was eating him alive.

Here though, with the stars lighting up the sky with their memory and small soft hands caressing his back, he finally allowed himself to let go, and it felt a lot like forgiveness. Luna didn't say anything else as he clung to her for what felt like like hours, just rubbed her hands across his back and clutched his shaking shoulders to her tightly.

"Thank you," he muttered against her skin once he finally gained his composure, slightly hesitant to meet her eyes after the decidedly unmanly display she just had to endure. But he needed to have worried, as there was no judgement in her gaze, merely acceptance and a shared grief of circumstance.

"You did the same for me once upon a time, and the blubbering humdingers like the world to be in balance, " she explained like it made all the sense in the world, and for Luna it probably did. Still, she didn't move from her place perched on his lap, and Percy was in no hurry to relinquish contact with her.

His eyes were still wet as he chuckled, "There you go with your creatures again."

She hummed in affirmation. "You know, I always used to come to this bank and watch for my mum's start, the one that seemed to twinkle just for me. It made it far less lonely. You should pick one out for Fred."

They sat together for a few more minutes, her still on his lap, just staring at the night sky. It was comfortable in a way few things were, and he wondered just how he had missed her growing up. She was still Luna, still chasing the fantastical, but there was such a calm strength in her presence now, and he really didn't want to give that up.

Finally she shifted again to face him, giving him that unblinking stare. She looked for just a moment to long and he started to fidget, feeling laid bare before her. "Yes, I definitely think you'll make a good minister one day." Her tone was so final that he could perfectly understand how she always seemed to see things others overlooked.

Finally, she placed her smaller hand against his heart for just a brief moment as she leaned in slowly, kissing him full on the lips, sighing softly against his skin. Then, she pulled back, grey eyes twinkling all the while, placed her hand on the ground, and grabbed the forgotten slowly blinking badge.

One tap of her wand later and the BigHead Boy badge was glittering merrily, just as bright as the day it had been tossed Percy's way. He was too flabbergasted to react as she settled it in his palm, ruffled her fingers gently through his ginger hair as she rose, and with a skip, a hop and tiny parting smile, she apparated away.

One star in particular seemed to twinkle a tad bit brighter for just a moment as Percy stared out into the heavens above. He took one last look at the badge in his hands, before straightening his robes, smiling slightly as he tucked it into his pocket.

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Percy exhaled as he shut the door to his office, smiling slightly at the words on the name plate. ''Percy Weasley, Department of Magical Transportation."

He ran his fingers over the bronze and thought about the events that led him to this place, to being back in the Ministry.

He had swallowed his pride after the night at the pond with Luna, and talked to his father, man-to-man for the first time in years. He told Arthur about the resignation, about why he felt he needed to leave, how sorry he was for the things he had done; for his stubborn pride that refused to let him see the error in his ways much sooner.

Arthur had listened earnestly, patted him on the back and told him that they would go see Kingsley together the next day. Even though he was a fully grown wizard and had been an adult for a few years, he was immediately grateful for his father's support as they walked the halls of the Ministry.

Kingsley had been far easier to deal with than his family. The tall Auror—now interim Minister— had welcomed him back with open arms, told him that there was always a place for him. Told Percy that even though he had made mistakes, he had come through in the end like a true Gryffindor. The minister immediately offered up a job in Magical Transportation, and even though he probably would have scoffed at the position in years passed, Percy accepted without even a moments hesitation.

It was a start to being the man that he only recently realized he wanted to become. He tried not to think of the haunting grey eyes and a soft smile that had helped him find his path. He hadn't seen or heard from Luna since that night when the gentle kiss she had placed on his lips had knocked him for the biggest loop of his life; but he thought of her smile more than he wanted to admit.

Settling down to work on one of the thirty proposals covering his desk, he efficiently put all thoughts of blonde hair and soft lips out of his mind and lost himself in his paperwork.

It was hours later when he heard a tapping on the charmed window of his office, Owls were rare around the Ministry, as the charmed memos were much more popular, but as Percy landed eyes on the flittering bird at his windowsill, his heart stopped. There was no doubt as to whom the tiny white owl with the large grey eyes and bright pink talons belonged. As he opened the window and let the bird in, he couldn't help but laugh as the small ball of feathers flew in tiny circles before settling on his desk and turning its head in his direction. It blinked in a way that utterly reminded him of the owl's mistress before extending its leg towards him and hopping immediately to the windowsill the moment he relieved the little bird of its burden. The owl was gone as Percy clutched the small package in his lightly shaking hands.

The small parcel was wrapped in clippings from the Quibbler and he opened it gently, wondering just what Luna would be sending to him. He tried to stamp out the hope that ran through him at the gesture.

Removing the last bit of wrapping, tears stung Percy's eyes unbidden as he laid eyes on his Hogwarts Head Boy Badge, the one he thought lost forever in the depths of the pond that night. He never thought he would get this back, and he couldn't even stop the lone tear that escaped his eye as he read the words on the parchment attached to the badge.

Percy,

The things we lose always have a way of coming back to us in the end.

Congratulations on your new position, and don't forget that the stars see everything, and nothing is truly lost. I hope you know where you can find me if you would like.

Love,

Luna

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Percy couldn't help but smile shakily as he reread the parchment, hope flaring wildly in his chest.

Percy rose from his desk and walked over to the small frame hanging on the wall of his office, his newly returned gift in his hand as he did so. He smiled at the Big Head Boy badge that he already had mounted in the small frame on the day he accepted the new position. It was a friendly reminder now, that being a 'Ministry Man' didn't take away from the fact that he was still a Weasley—something he vowed to never forget again.

He used his wand to open the small frame, and reverently placed his original Head Boy Badge right next to the twinkling silver one already occupying the space. As he closed the frame again he stepped back admiring the two badges side by side. One serious and official, one sparkling and playful, it seemed fitting that they rested next to each other.

He smiled as he thought of Luna, and exactly how much influence she had on the fact that he was standing in this office. Her words from the parchment sitting at his desk echoed in his mind as he thought about things lost.

He tugged on his burgundy bowtie, smoothing out the non existing creases as he did, and straightened his horn-rimmed glasses. He wasn't lost anymore, he had direction, a purpose now, and maybe even a healthy dose of self-forgiveness.

He also had a pretty blonde witch he didn't want to keep waiting. He apparated without a second thought, landing with a soft pop at the banks of the pond, taking note that the stars seemed to be twinkling ever so brightly in the sky tonight.

She was waiting—as he knew she would be—smiling as tiny fairies danced about her fingertips, barefoot in the grass and lit by the light of the moon. He'd never seen someone so beautiful.

"Luna," he said softly as he approached the witch in the twilight. " How did you ever get that badge back? Head badges from Hogwarts have been charmed against summoning since 1895." Just because he had a new outlook on life, didn't mean he was going to stop being himself, so reciting random facts was something she would just have to get used to.

He could see the mischief sparkling in her eyes as the gentle lilt of her voice washed over him like a balm, "The Nargles brought it to me, thought you might want it back one day."

Instead of a response —because exactly how does one respond to that —he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her tiny frame, exhaling slightly as he realized he had read the signs correctly, and that she wasn't pulling away.

He tipped her head up towards him, fingers delicately lifting her chin as he stoked the side of her face and kissed her with everything he had in him. Sweet and tender at first, and then bruising and crushing as she responded to him, opening her lips and letting him devour her. She tasted like starlight and redemption and he was sure he would never get tired of it. They broke apart, gasping for breath and she molded herself even tighter to his taller form.

Locking eyes with her, he looked once up to the stars and then down to her face, alight with affection for him. He wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled her close. In the split second before he apparated them both back to his flat, he broke away from her lips and laughed.

"Thank Merlin for the Nargles."


End file.
